‘Built-in best friend’: Family says final goodbye to teen killed in Piedmont Park
Samiyah Dent doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to sleep in her own bedroom again.
It’s one she shared with her 16-year-old sister, Tianah Robinson. With their beds next to each other, Samiyah said they often shared laughs late into the night.
“It was never just a room. It was our space. Now it’s just a space that will only remind me of you,” Samiyah said Saturday morning at Ebenezer Baptist Church during her sister’s funeral.
Tears streamed down Samiyah’s face as she spoke to a crowd dressed mostly in white and green. Throughout the hourlong funeral service, a woman sitting in the ninth row of the Atlanta sanctuary drew a picture of Tianah, referencing a picture of the girl on her phone.
The teen was fatally shot two weeks ago, on April 4, at Piedmont Park in an unsolved killing that prompted an outpouring of neighborhood concern and a pledge to step up safety measures from Mayor Andre Dickens, who attended Tianah’s funeral.
The gunfire came more than an hour after 404 Day festivities, a celebration of Atlanta culture whose name comes from the city’s first area code, wrapped up in a different section of the park, officials previously said.
Police said it appeared at least four people opened fire in the busy Midtown park. In the days following, police released the pictures of three people they identified as “persons of interest” in the case. There is a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
A 15-year-old girl was also shot and injured.
On Thursday, police said the investigation remained active and the department had no updates to share.
Samiyah and Isaiah Robinson described their sister as supportive, strong and loving. Samiyah added that she saw her more like a “built-in best friend,” someone she could always turn to for help.
“I know my sister is so happy to see everyone come together,” Isaiah said during the service.
Atlanta-based rapper and philanthropist 21 Savage, whose real name is Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, paid for the funeral. Tianah’s casket featured a picture her in a green ball gown, and, at one point, her siblings put a silver crown on top of the casket above her head.
Her family lovingly called her “Princess Tianah.”
She lived in Riverdale and was a student at North Clayton High School, where she played volleyball. Her aunt, Shirley Clanton, said Tianah loved children, often snagging family members’ kids so she could play with their hair and give them kisses.
“She’s probably got all the spirits of babies around her, taking care of them. So, we don’t have to worry about her, because she’s OK,” Clanton said.
Officials with the city of Atlanta and its police department and the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office also attended the funeral.
Dickens presented the family with a framed letter of condolence. He left the ceremony early, stating he had to attend another funeral.
During his remarks, the mayor said Tianah loved to braid hair, watch Disney musicals and dreamed of becoming an ultrasound technician.
“When my daughter goes out into this world, I pray, trusting, that the world will send her back to me. Every parent does the exact same thing,” said Dickens, who has a 20-year-old daughter.
Dickens identified youth safety as not only a priority for him, but the “reason” he gets up every morning. He said every child deserves to grow up in a safe city and that Tianah “deserved that city.”
After the service, Tianah’s casket was loaded onto a horse-drawn hearse. The funeral was followed by a private burial arranged by the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home in Riverdale.
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